Riding mowers are commonly used for mowing large lawns and grassy areas. Riding mowers often are constructed with a mower deck suspended below the mower body intermediate the front and rear wheels. Mower decks for installation on conventional tractors are often constructed to be suspended below the tractor body intermediate the front and rear wheels as on riding mowers.
Mower decks typically include a housing fixedly mounted to the tractor frame with means often provided to raise and lower the mower deck. One or more mower blades are suspended below the housing. Power transfer means are provided between the motor and the blade or blades. Such power transfer means often comprises a belt drive.
Riding mowers and tractor-mounted mowers are typically designed such that the mower blade and thus the housing extend laterally exterior of the wheels of the tractor or mower to provide a cutting swath at least as wide as the lateral width of the wider wheel set.
It is difficult to cut around objects such as trees and fence posts with riding mowers and tractor-mounted mowers due to the size, maneuverability and structure of the mower or tractor. Areas adjacent objects such as trees, fence posts and the like are often mowed with hand mowers or edgers, or left unmowed.
Mower decks for riding mowers and tractors are typically bolted to the underside of the tractor. To access the mower deck for blade sharpening, cleaning and greasing, it is generally necessary to detach the mower deck from the tractor, perform the sharpening, cleaning or greasing, and reinstall the mower deck by bolting it to the tractor, requiring that it be lifted to be reattached.
Parish U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,799 discloses a riding mower side guard adapted to move relative to the housing when the guard contacts a stationary object.
Hill U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,757 discloses a lawn mower discharge deflector horizontally and vertically pivotable in response to contact with objects.
McKeever U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,832 discloses a side guard for a lawn mower. Other patents relating to mowers or attachments include Lowry et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,183, Ryken et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,150 and Anderson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,814.
Presently practiced riding mowers and tractor mounted mowers do not provide adequate means for mowing areas immediately adjacent objects such as trees, fence posts and like stationary objects.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a riding mower or tractor mounted mower providing means for effectively mowing areas adjacent trees, fence posts, and like objects.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mower deck for attachment to riding mowers and tractor mounted mowers, the mower deck laterally adjustable in relation to the mower or tractor.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mower deck which is laterally adjustable responsive to objects encountered during mowing.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mower deck which may be readily attached to and detached from the tractor.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by a mower deck carriage for mounting a mower deck on a mower or tractor including laterally aligned, spaced channels attached to the upper side of the mower deck, the mower deck suspended from aligned, spaced rollers receivable in said channels, which rollers are attached to the tractor. The mower deck channels are laterally moveable along the spaced rollers. Springs are attached between the mower deck and the tractor to bias the mower deck in a preferred position. A mower deck guard extends exterior of the mower deck. Rollers are provided on the guard extending laterally therefrom to reduce friction at engagement of the guard with objects such as trees or fence posts. The roller guards, the channels, rollers and spring means cooperatively bias the mower deck in a preferred position and allow lateral movement of the mower deck upon encountering a fixed object such as a tree or fence post.